Please find attached a soundbite by Eleanore Bouw-Spies MP.
Early this week, I wrote to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Thembi Nkadimeng, and the acting head of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), Mthobeli Kolisa, requesting that they convene a “Best Practice Summit on Municipal Governance”. The idea is to create a platform where best run municipalities (most of which are DA run) share best practices and key lessons on how to improve governance outcomes with failing municipalities.
Yesterday, Mr Kolisa wrote to me informing me that the DA’s ‘…proposal will be tabled in the meeting of the Governance and Intergovernmental Relations National Working Group…’ for consideration. A decision by SALGA’s national executive committee on this consideration will then be communicated to the DA in due course.
After years of providing value for money for residents and delivering optimal service delivery outcomes, DA governments are more than happy to share their collective experience in running successful governments across the county.
Just yesterday, the Auditor General, Tsakani Maluleke, revealed that Of the 38 clean audit outcomes reported, 23 were from DA-run municipalities. The Western Cape once again outperformed the rest of the country, with 21 DA municipalities receiving clean audits which is more than the rest of the clean audits in the country combined.
Early this week, the 2022 Municipal Financial Sustainability Index (MFSI) by Ratings Afrika, made the point that the DA-run Saldanha Bay and Midavaal are the best run municipalities in the country. Ratings Afrika pointed out that ‘…it is only the Western Cape municipalities that demonstrate adequate levels of financial sustainability which gives them the financial capacity to deliver services and develop infrastructure while at the same time build the reserves to absorb financial shocks.’
It is our sincere hope that SALGA decision making structures will approve the national best practice summit so that DA governments can exhibit the key requirements needed to achieve excellence in local government.
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